The Voice of the Master is a posthumous collection of Kahlil Gibran's prose writings in Arabic, translated by Anthony Rizcallah Ferris and published by Citadel Press in 1958, some twenty-seven years after Gibran's death in 1931. Ferris worked from manuscripts held in the Gibran archive; the resulting text addresses the themes Gibran returned to throughout his career — love, marriage, the divinity of humanity, reason, and freedom — in short meditations and aphorisms closer in form to direct philosophical address than to the sustained parable structure of The Prophet.
The book opens with a dialogue between a figure called "the master" and a disciple named Almuhtada, then moves through a series of prose pieces addressed to individual subjects. Scholars, notably Suheil Bushrui, have flagged the Ferris translations across Gibran's Arabic-language series as paraphrastic, sometimes substantially rewriting the originals; readers seeking closer fidelity to Gibran's Arabic voice are directed to more recent critical editions. Citadel Press has kept the book in continuous print since 1958.
God has given you a spirit with wings on which to soar into the spacious firmament of Love and Freedom. Is it not pitiful then that you cut your wings with your own hands and suffer your soul to crawl like an insect upon the earth.
The Master and the Disciple
Contents
The Master and the Disciple
Of Marriage
Of the Divinity of Man
Of Reason and Knowledge
Of Love and Equality
Reception
A minor entry in the Gibran corpus, with significantly smaller print runs and critical attention than The Prophet. Citadel Press has kept it continuously in print since 1959 as part of its Gibran series. Scholars working on Gibran's Arabic-language output (notably Suheil Bushrui) have flagged the Ferris translations across the series as paraphrastic and sometimes substantially rewriting the originals; readers seeking Gibran's actual Arabic voice are usually directed to more recent translations.
Frequently asked
What is The Voice of the Master?
A posthumous collection of Kahlil Gibran's Arabic prose writings, translated by Anthony Rizcallah Ferris and published by Citadel Press in 1958. It addresses the themes Gibran returned to throughout his career — love, marriage, the divinity of humanity, reason, and freedom — in short meditations and aphorisms, including an opening dialogue between a master figure and a disciple named Almuhtada.
How does The Voice of the Master differ from The Prophet?
Where The Prophet (1923) uses a sustained parable framework — a prophet-figure who answers questions from townspeople before departing — The Voice of the Master is a looser collection of prose meditations and aphorisms drawn from Gibran's Arabic manuscripts. The form is less unified but more varied in register, ranging from dialogue to direct philosophical address.
Is the Ferris translation faithful to Gibran's Arabic?
Scholars, including Suheil Bushrui, have noted that Anthony Rizcallah Ferris's translations across Gibran's Arabic-language series are paraphrastic and sometimes substantially rewrite the originals. Readers seeking closer fidelity to Gibran's Arabic voice are directed to more recent critical translations rather than the Citadel Press series.